Lost and Found
by DaBananaLord
Summary: A ship is found in Alliance space with a single passenger aboard.


**Mass Effect and Fallout both belong to their respective creators. I do not claim ownership of the characters or situations portrayed in this story.**

— **-**

Guard: Sit here. You'll be questioned shortly.

—-

 _A chair scrapes on the metal of the floor._

Interrogator: Hello there.

John Doe: You my interrogator?

I: Well, the word's a bit harsh, but I suppose it's accurate enough. But I'm not what matters here. What I want to know is -

JD: I don't know how I got here.

I: Excuse me?

JD: You want to know how the ship I was on got to where your folks were. I don't know.

I: I see. Well, that's one question answered. Do you know anything about the vessel you were on?

JD: Not much. From what I saw, it was probably an explorer.

I: Were you a member of the crew?

JD: What? No. They abducted me.

I: Abducted?

JD: It was an alien ship. The crew was aliens.

I: … I see. Can you describe these aliens?

JD: Short. Grey. Big heads, small bodies. Ran around in jumpsuits.

 _Silence._

I: I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the species you described.

JD: Well, neither was I.

I: Could you think of some purpose as to why they abducted you?

JD: Wasn't on the ship long enough to find out. There were other prisoners, but I didn't get a good look at what they were doing before they were taken out of their cells. You see, a big crane thing would come by once in a while and pick some poor fella out. sometimes you'd see a body bag dangling from it a little bit later.

I: This 'crane' never came for you?

JD: Nope.

I: I see. …When we found you in the ship, you were isolated in the bridge. Would you like to explain why you were the only one we found?

 _JD sighs heavily._

JD: I wasn't on the ship long. Some of the prisoners started an escape attempt.

I: You don't sound like you trusted their plan.

JD: It was a bit too desperate. Think about it. An alien ship, in the middle of space. If you took control of it, what would you do? No one around to call for help, no way to know how to pilot yourself home. Either way you're fucked. Only reason I was caught up in it was because the cells were opened and everyone started rioting. When things get like that, fighting's the only real way to stay alive. The aliens tried to keep every thing under control, but there were too many prisoners. A few stole guns from the armory, and that was that. I followed along with the escapees, and eventually we got to the bridge. The captain put up a last stand, but we took him out.

I: What happened to the other prisoners?

JD: Some dumb-ass hit an energy storage or something, and the discharge blew open the blast doors.

I: The blast doors weren't reinforced?

JD: It was a big explosion. Took out a third of the ship.

I: Ah. That explains the external damage.

JD: Damn near everyone got ejected. Someone started pressing buttons, trying to close the doors, but there was some kind of security protocol. The doors took a minute to close, and the last guy with me flew out right before the doors closed.

I: How come you managed to stay on the ship?

JD: Strong grip. Captain's chair was bolted down pretty tight, and I held it until the doors closed.

I: The ship was exiting some form of FTL travel before we found you. Did you engage that?

JD: I guess. I was stuck, alone, on something I couldn't pilot, so I sat for a bit trying to figure out what to do. A backup generator or something kicked in, and everything lit up. I found the console with a map on it and guessed on how to get home.

I: But you ended up in Alliance space, by an abandoned mining planet.

JD: I guessed wrong. I couldn't read any of the charts or algorithms, so I was stuck with pressing buttons based on assumptions.

I: That's… very risky.

JD: Well, it was that or starve to death. Even if the ship had escape pods or something, the whole damn thing was depressurized. I didn't exactly have options. Hell, I don't even know if any of this is real.

I: I assure you, this is real.

 _JD's voice begins to rise._

JD: Really? Are you sure? Because between the space aliens from some cheesy holotape and you Alliance fellas, I'm pretty sure this ain't the universe I grew up in! Space travel ain't real! I shouldn't even-

I: Sir. Sir! Calm down!

 _Some metal-on-metal scraping. Silence._

I: What did you mean, 'space travel isn't real'?

 _JD breathes heavily for a moment before answering._

JD: No-one can go to space. Shouldn't be possible. Space travel ended with the Old World. No-one could have made space ships when people like the NCR can't even keep themselves together.

I: … Humanity has been traveling the galaxy since 2148.

JD: …What?

 _More scraping._

I: I believe that we're finished for today. Some guards will be by shortly to show you to your quarters.

 _The heavy swing of a door opening and closing. Silence._

JD: What the fuck have I done?

—-

 **I plan to update my other stories soon, but inspiration for me is fleeting at best these days. Please be patient.**


End file.
